Free agency began at 10:01 p.m. MST last night, and since then a number of big signings have already occurred. We’ll be blogging all the big news throughout the day.
9:45 a.m. MST: It began late last night with Redskins cornerback DeAngelo Hall, who hit the open market for just a short while before he re-signed with Washington.
Then the Redskins were able to sign the biggest free agent prize out there, Albert Haynesworth.
The Patriots got into the mix and are expected to sign running back Fred Taylor, who has spent the entirety of his career up to this point with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
It looks like the New York Jets have gotten one of the most coveted free agent linebackers in Bart Scott, and they also were able to re-sign their fullback, Tony Richardson.
So the Ravens have lost one of their best linebackers, and it looks like they may lose another — Ray Lewis may take his services elsewhere for the first time in his career.
The Patriots have been able to take away from the division rival Jets by picking up tight end Chris Baker.
And safety Eugene Wilson was on the market for just a few hours before getting a new deal with his 2008 team, the Houston Texans.
And though it happened before the start of free agency, the Dolphins secured the safety position by re-signing Yeremiah Bell to a new deal and signing Gibril Wilson, who was cut by the Raiders.
9:49 a.m. MST: Here’s a list of Broncos who are now on the market.
Unrestricted: Tatum Bell, Ebenezer Ekuban, Darrell Jackson, Marlon McCree, Tom Nalen, Karl Paymah, Kenny Peterson, Michael Pittman, Jeb Putzier, Patrick Ramsey, Edell Shepherd and Nate Webster.
Restricted: Erik Pears.
Exclusive Rights: Andre Hall.
10:07 a.m. MST: After trying unsuccessfully last year to trade for quarterback Sage Rosenfels, the Vikings have finally done it this year. The Houston backup is now a Viking.
10:23 a.m. MST: There’s a new name on the list of available players: Marques Douglas. The Ravens have just cut the defensive end, making him a free agent.
10:28 a.m. MST: The biggest trade of the day, thus far, has just gone through. The Cleveland Browns have traded tight end Kellen Winslow to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for an undisclosed draft pick.
10:38 a.m. MST: After losing Scott and cutting Douglas, the Ravens have jumped into the fray by signing cornerback Domonique Foxworth.
The former Bronco spent last season with the Falcons, starting 10 games.
1:36 p.m. MST: Sorry for the delay in posts, but everyone’s gotta eat. So after a little lunch with Kyle Sonneman and PR staffer Patrick Smyth, it’s time to get back to tracking the transactions.
The Patriots are close to completing a trade that would send linebacker Mike Vrabel to the Chiefs.
1:41 p.m. MST: Fourth-year offensive tackle Frank Omiyale joins the Chicago Bears after spending last season with the Carolina Panthers.
And the Bengals have gotten into the mix by re-signing safety Chris Crocker.
1:53 p.m. MST: Guard Chris Kemoeatu has re-signed with his 2008 team, the Steelers.
2:00 p.m. MST: And to update the post a few hours back about Foxworth — he and the Ravens have now reached a deal for his four-year contract.
2:31 p.m. MST: With all the talk about Ray Lewis, I thought I’d link to this little tidbit by Adam Schefter. It seems that Lewis’ relationship with the Ravens is just fine, and he will not make any decisions until Monday.
2:37 p.m. MST: After losing Haynesworth, the Titans have managed to re-sign a couple of their own free agents. They have agreed to terms on a two-year deal with quarterback Kerry Collins, and they also locked up defensive back Vincent Fuller.
3:10 p.m. MST: A couple more running backs have received new contracts around the league. DeDe Dorsey re-signed with the Bengals, and Maurice Morris signed with the Lions after seven seasons in Seattle.
Center Brad Meester has re-signed with the Jaguars.
3:13 p.m. MST: The Saints have reached an agreement with linebacker Jonathan Vilma on a five-year contract.
3:59 p.m. MST: I want to thank everyone for all the great comments on the blog. Free agency is an exciting time in the NFL, and so much is going on.
As Kyle Sonneman noted in a comment below, the Broncos have not announced any official signings. As such, all the news out there are just reports from outside sources. The transactions being reported may very well go through, but until the Broncos announce it, it would be inappropriate for us to report on it as the team’s official site. Once something is made official by the team, we will fill you in completely.
4:41 p.m. MST: You may have noticed the blog is a little sluggish, and we apologize for the problem. With all the activity and traffic on the site, it’s just running a little slow.
But rest assured we’ll keep you informed.
4:56 p.m. MST: Free agent right tackle Stacy Andrews, formerly of the Bengals, will be joining the Eagles, pending a physical today. The two sides have agreed to terms on a contract.
5:00 p.m. MST: After re-signing Meester earlier, the Jaguars have re-signed another one of their free agents — cornerback Scott Starks.
6:58 p.m. MST: Another delay for the drive home and a few errands, and now I’m back at it, catching up on the latest free agency transactions.
10-year veteran tight end Jim Kleinsasser, a second-round pick of the Vikings in 1999, has agreed to a new deal with Minnesota.
7:04 p.m. MST: Another trade is in the works, this one between the Eagles and Jets. Once completed, the Eagles will send cornerback Lito Sheppard to the Jets for a pair of draft picks.
7:07 p.m. MST: And as several of y’all have pointed out, the Redskins have indeed released 12-year veteran cornerback Shawn Springs.
7:11 p.m. MST: The Redskins are keeping their big day in free agency going, and they have added another player to their roster. Washington has reached a deal with former Buffalo Bills guard Derrick Dockery.
7:16 p.m. MST: Also, the deal between the Jets and linebacker Bart Scott has officially gone through. The former Ravens linebacker is now a New York Jet.
7:23 p.m. MST: 2008 marked Takeo Spikes’ 11th year in the league and his first with the 49ers after playing with the Eagles, Bills and Bengals earlier in his career. He has now re-signed with the 49ers on a two-year contract.
7:44 p.m. MST: Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who this last year started 12 games for the injured Carson Palmer in Cincinnati, has signed with the Buffalo Bills.
8:04 p.m. MST: Missed this one a little bit earlier, but safety Sean Considine, formerly of the Eagles, has signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars. It is being reported as a two-year deal.
8:25 p.m. MST: It looks like a few more players have a place to play in 2009. The Jets brought back guard Brandon Moore after releasing him earlier in the offseason. Linebacker Michael Boley, formerly of the Falcons, will likely join the New York Giants. And 11-year veteran Allen Rossum has re-signed with the 49ers.
8:30 p.m. MST: Here’s an interesting bit about Cardinals QB Kurt Warner. Despite leading Arizona to Super Bowl XLIII, Warner has hit the free agent market. The quarterback has said that he’d like to return to the Cards. It will be interesting to see how this pans out.
8:56 p.m. MST: Things appear to be slowing down a bit (for now), but stick with us because we’ll keep the blog going throughout the weekend as more news comes in from around the league.
– Adam Zinser, DenverBroncos.com
Tags: Adam Zinser, Free Agency
NO don’t trade Doom and about the anderson/ stokely drama all i can say is that i trust that McD and staff know what they are doing.
49ers sign Takeo Spikes
BroncoRanger08 –
Since this morning, we have been keeping track of all action going on in free agency. A number of big names have gone places, such as Albert Haynesworth to the Redskins.
There are currently reports of a number of players joining the Broncos, however there have been no official signings. When and if the Broncos make an official announcement about any free agency acquisitions, we’ll be here to fill you in.
As for all the responses, it’s just a lot of people talking about one of the most exciting days of the year in the NFL. And a big thank you to y’all for getting so involved.
Broncoranger,
we picked up two useless RBs(actually,one can return kickoffs)
we have the second highest paid long snapper in the league(can anyone say super bowl?)
we got two old safeties (one who is amazing…dawkins, and the other, i dont really know him…)
we got new englands 4th reciever (jabar gaffney)
rumors have us in the mix for ray lewis (i wish) and getting rid of stokely for some random texans WR
Thank you Adam.
over view we are now Just talking about the newly aquired free agents and potential ones
Lemme give it a shot!
* We LOOVE the Dawkins signing
* Are torn between the R.B. signings, though Arrington running back sum kicks sure would make me sleep better than holding my breath each time we tried to put E. Royal out there. Am I right??
* I personally HATE the idea of signing David Anderson, the WR from Houston. We are good with our WR, if you ask me. ESP if Williamson is right & it’d mean the end of Stokleys time in Den.
*Renaldo Hill = Love it
Buckhalter = Wait & see on that one. I kinda think I favor Hills
Lonie Paxton?? – Umm… ok!! :S
Andra Davis?? Hecks yeah!!
Hope I helped BRONCORANGER08 – Give us ur input!!
the LS we aquired signed for 5 yr 5.5 mil 1 mil bonus doesn’t even tickle the cap and the RB probably be the same. i like all aquisitions up to now
lovin the ls over view mastermarcus
Thank you mastermarcus
Dont take me for a noob, i know most of this already but was wondering about what all of you thought on the transactions. I actually thing Buckhalter will be an asset in passing situations. What do you all think about picking up Shawn Springs? I also think the Ray Lewis Deal would be awesome but wonder if there would be competion between Dockins and Lewis for leadership of the lockeroom. Neither know anything BUT leadership.
i like that nick
you guys are hard to keep up with! DANG!!!
Man this is damn stupid!! 19 Catches for 241yds and 2td’s from some unknown WR vs 49 catches for 528yds and 3td’s from a guy we can count on. What I want to know is…….. WHY ARE WE PICKING UP OFFENSIVE PLAYERS WHEN OUR DEFENSE WAS TRASH THIS PAST SEASON?!?!
Question Guys:
Who would you guys want to be our Fullback at the begining of the season? Someone on our current roster, or do we need to adress that issue?
Hill and Gaffney signed a 4 yr $10 mil contract with $3 mil garanteed sounds official to me came out like at 3pm
fullback will be hillis IMO
Ohh!! Got another one!!
Anyone else not convinced by Pratters production last season? Lord knows I was pullin’ for the little fellow, but dang it!!
Should we be interested in any of these FA kickers, or just wait & play it by ear during the draft?
Hillis- his hands are invaluble especially with the pass heavy offense that we seem to be leaning towards
Hillis is a great blocker too…and i like the idea of always having him in the backfield with a speed back behind him(could be something like bush,mcallister in new orleans)
Alright, I can accept that, I guess. What about his back-up?? Do we still have Kern?
Kidding! I kinda like Lorenzo Neal a bit. He’d pro’lly have a cheap price tag attached to him, too!! And you guys can’t say he doesn’t look like a friggin’ refrigirator with legs!!
3rd + short?? Right down the middle!!
Hillis will be FB if not then Heath Evans from Pats.
i invision a shotgun formation with a RB (TBD) and hillis in the back field and a 3 receiver set. i think royal in the slot. Again just my Opinion.
there is a video on espn blog afcwest that was broadcasted on sportcenter about Dawkins signing a two year deal!!! Everyone keeps talking about no one has been signed by Denver and everything, but why do I see it on espn.com and on the NFL network and Sportcenter??? According to everyone else in the sports world seems to think we have signed llike 5 people!!!!
Pratter…..very unreliable
After reading this entire blog, my head is spinning! I’m gonna need an alkaselzer cause I can’t believe we ate the whole thing! If all the moves posted really come true sounds like we have some veteran leadership coming to Denver. Dawkins sure plays like a guy much younger than his years and R. Lewis , though he may have lost a step will be a force in the locker room and and on the field will gently encourage leaving it all on the field every game. We will see how it all plays out but it sure looks good on paper! Go Broncos!
it would be deeply upsetting if stoke is let go because he’s been clutch…great receiver to have around so eddie and b marsh can watch how we find holes in the d…i kno b marsh and eddie don’t need it all that much since both separate in their own respective ways…but with their run after the catch abilities i don’t think having 4 yards around you after a catch is gonna hurt too much
nickspops –
I understand where you’re coming from. However, as we’ve already mentioned here and here earlier, nothing is 100 percent official until the team declares it official. And once that happens, when and if it happens, we’ll have full coverage of everything.
well i was watching the news and they said that dawkins guy for philly he is hard hittting
I dont believe Stokely will be let go. Most of the players that have been so far have either been inconsistent, backups, or haven’t been worth their hype.
ESPN is now saying this:
“Denver hopes to finalize the Brian Dawkins’ deal, which could happen tonight. He is in Denver now and a two-year deal could be near completion. But until he is signed, don’t discount the idea of the Eagles’ star returning to Philadelphia.”
It ain’t over to the fat lady sings. So when the fat lady starts singing we will know that we have Dawkins.
Vilma is gone and they don’t get much bigger than Moss. Haynesworth is over rated and only plays for contracts and again Mualuga isn’t worth the 12th pick because he’s to short and gets pushed around plus his hami is acting up. What the hell are you talking about doz13r?
Being that McDanials is no offense to my use of the term the spawn of Bill Belicheck I doubt that we will be useing a fullback very often so wouldnt be suprised to see hills play fullback and so long as I’m talking Hill is’nt all that old I have seen it posted that he is 31 but Iam fairly certain correct me if I’m wrong he is 29 and Jabar Gaffney is as good as most starters in the league and he was the third reciver not fourth and need I remind you behind two probowl recivers possible future hofer’s I realy hope we resign tatum to be a compliment to somone who hopefully is’nt aready on the team because honestly the only one who actualy excits is Andre Hall
DOZ13r,
I agree with the fact that Denver needs to pick up big name players. But the only Linebacker i would go for now is Lewis since Vilma has already signed with the Saints again. Moss, at the end of the season, claimed he would work on adding size although we do need more bulk out there. As for a DT: I say we pick up BJ Raji in the draft. In the secondary i hope we sign dawkins and i think the CB shawn springs from the redskins would be a nice pickup
What do you think?
nickspops –
I have to admit I got a nice chuckle out of the Christmas analogy. You have an excellent point, but this is the way the team does business. The deals that have been reported may go through. Once the organization makes an official announcement, that’s when it truly becomes official.
I’m afraid there’s not much else I can say, but I do truly appreciate all the comments and questions. Keep ‘em coming.
COME ON FAT LADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
START SINGIN
Dont read to much into the wide receiver signings. We got caught a few times shorthanded last year and Im assuming the coaches are looking for a reliable backup, which is why they signed what had been reliable backups. I dont see Stokely being replaced, if we all know how obviously good he is then the coaches do too. Also you overstock in the offseason, these guys might not make the final cut before the season starts.
wow, doz13, that was pretty depressing…
and i was almost happy. we picked up a baller safety, are in the running for one of the best LBs(thats a big name for you). sure, we threw some money at some underperforming RBs, but we have the long snapper of the future and could probably get raji in the draft, then a cb and DE
teams might only score 390 against us next year!
THEN ??? IS THIS
http://broncotalk.net/2009/02/brian-dawkins-signs-with-broncos/
Ed, you make a good point.
no, it says they are still waiting for conformation
Read the link from that page, about what schefter says:
http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/real_scouts/entry/view/17585/brian_dawkins_signs_in_denver
“He’s in the air, on plane, not even in Denver yet,” Schefter says.
I would find it very difficult to sign a contract if I was in the air not in Denver.
The broncostalk isn’t true, they are waiting on conformation: it says that at the bottom
schefter has been taking forever to report what already came out today all day. all his stuff right now is old. that came out like at 4pm buddy
GO DENVER!!!!
KCNC-TV, channel 4, the Denver CBS affiliate reports that Brian Dawkins has agreed to a two-year deal with the Broncos and landed in Denver this evening to sign it. Barring a last minute snafu, it’s a done deal.
Source: http://cbs4denver.com/sports/broncos.brian.dawkins.2.946347.html
Hey Schefter is usually right and he if he says it ain’t done then it ain’t. He is waiting for it to be official. I for one will be crossing my fingers that it happens. But till it’s done all I can do is hope.
Still not a done deal but getting close.
DEFENSE:
D-line: olshanky
SS: hill, barrett
FS: dawkins
MLB: maulauga, bailey, Lewis (highly doubtful)
LOLB: Williams
ROLB: edwards
LCB: McCallister, springs, asomugha
RCB: bailey
OFFENSE:
QB: cutler,collins
WR: marshall,royal
TE: scheffler, graham
OL: clady, wiegemenn, holland
RB: young, pittman, arrington, buckhalter,
FB: hillis, torain
lol this might as well be the next probowl team
I’ll tell ya..I’ve been logging in from the minute I woke up this morning. If half of the player/ coach/ personel staff were to log in and read this #%$@! they would understand a bit better about bronco pride. Seriously, scroll down the side bar and realize the responses that have been made in one day about our team, and this is the month of February. It’s a good thing some of us are just fans and not in the front office, but damn if they don’t have the personel to cheer them on even even before they get here.
I like the dawkins pick up if everything goes well but a little worried with the fact that he only probably has a couple more years left we need to focus more on defense from here on out including the draft our offense can only do so much im hoping for BJ or Rey either would be great hopefully they wont mess up with that high pick